SB476 Alabama 2015 Session

Under Section 71 of the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, the general appropriation bill is limited to appropriations for the ordinary expenses of the executive, legislative, and judicial departments of the state, for interest on the public debt and for the public schools

This bill would amend, effective January 1, 2017, Section 71 to provide that no appropriation to the Alabama Medicaid Agency could exceed ten percent of the total appropriations, nor could any appropriation to the Alabama Department of Corrections exceed five and one half percent of the total appropriations. These limits could be exceeded by a three-fifths vote of the elected members of each house

Proposing an amendment to Section 71 the Constitution of Alabama of 1901, to become effective January 1, 2017, relating to the general appropriation bill; to limit the appropriation to the Alabama Medicaid Agency to ten percent of the total amount of state funds over which the Legislature has discretionary control as to the recipient of those funds appropriated; to limit the appropriation to the Alabama Department of Corrections to five and one half percent of the total amount of state funds over which the Legislature has discretionary control as to the recipient of those funds appropriated; and to provide that these limits can only be exceeded if the appropriations bill was passed with an affirmative vote of three-fifths of the elected members of each house of the Legislature.